Zydus Cadila has declared that its biological therapy Pegylated Interferon alpha-2b, ‘PegiHep’ can emerge as one of the pathways to treat COVID 19.
The treatment has emerged after the publication of two non-peer reviewed research articles at bioRxiv and medRxiv, the COVID-19 pre-print servers hosted by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory. The first one by the University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, showed an evidence of a direct anti-viral effect of Interferon alpha against novel Coronavirus in vitro. The study demonstrated around 10,000 fold reduction in virus titre in cells that were pre-treated with Interferon alpha 48 hours earlier.
The second by a group of universities in China, Australia and Canada retrospectively analysed 77 moderate COVID-19 subjects in Wuhan and observed that those who received Interferon alpha-2b showed a significant reduction in the duration of virus shedding period and even in levels of the inflammatory cytokine, IL-6. This suggests that if a long-acting molecule like Pegylated Interferon alpha is given early on in the infection, the patient suffering from COVID 19 will have a significant benefit as the viral load is reduced, lesser IL-6 is produced and virus eliminating specific immune response is generated.
Cadila Healthcare is an India-based pharmaceutical company. The company's subsidiaries include Zydus Wellness, Liva Pharmaceuticals, Biochem Pharmaceutical Industries, Zydus Technologies, German Remedies, Dialforhealth India, Dialforhealth Unity and Dialforhealth Greencross, among others.
